Vice-presidential debate set for October 1 as Harris and Trump’s running mates accept invitation

CBS News posted on X that it has offered four potential debates in September and October to Tim Walz and JD Vance

WASHINGTON:

The running mates of White House rivals Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have agreed to face off in at least one vice-presidential debate, accepting an invitation from CBS News for an October 1 showdown.

CBS posted on social media platform X on Wednesday that it had offered four potential debates in September and October to Democratic Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Ohio’s Republican senator JD Vance.

“See you on October 1, JD,” Walz replied, before the Harris campaign officially confirmed that it had accepted the date, which comes after early voting has already started in several states.

Vance said on Thursday that he had also accepted the October 1 invitation, and suggested an earlier debate on September 18 that had been offered by CNN, arguing the “American people deserve as many debates as possible.”

There had been some doubt over whether the encounter would take place at all.

Vance confirmed he was open to October 1 in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday but said he would not do “one of these fake debates… where they don’t actually have an audience,” like the June 27 encounter between Trump and Biden.

Harris and Trump are set to stage their own debate on September 10, hosted by ABC News, and the vice president has said she is open to looking at her opponent’s suggestions for further showdowns.

Harris’s late entry into the race – replacing President Joe Biden after his withdrawal amid concerns over his age and unpopularity – has effectively turned it into the kind of sprint to election day more common in Europe.

Already a trailblazer as the first female and first Black and South Asian vice president, Harris is aiming to make history as the first woman president – and is scrambling to pitch herself to the public ahead of November 5.

She and Walz head to the national convention in Chicago next week on the back of a blockbuster start, in which they have reversed Trump’s polling leads, obliterated fundraising records and attracted huge ebullient crowds to their rallies.

In almost all of the swing states that decide the contest in US elections, Harris is now level or ahead of Trump, who shocked the world with his 2016 presidential victory but was beaten by Biden in 2020.